Tech Tools

Wayland 1.2

Wayland project has released the Wayland 1.2 graphics system. Wayland is intended as a full replacement for the X graphics stack that has been a fixture in Unix and Linux systems for many years. The new release includes numerous minor bug fixes, as well some significant improvements compared with version 1.1, which was released three months ago.

The wayland-server component now has a stable API that external developers and compositors can use to extend the system. Other advances include improvements in color management. The Wayland Input Method Framework is now feature complete, but not yet part of the official Wayland API because additional testing is necessary. Wayland 1.2 supports HiDPI mode, which utilizes the high resolution of many current laptop displays.

The system also comes with a Raspberry Pi back end and renderer. The Libwayland client has a higher thread-safety, which will help to remove incompatibilities with the EGL graphics interface. Multi-seat is also supported and can be configured through udev settings. A sample client included with the release is intended to demonstrate the idea of Application compositors.